Plucking a rabbit.

[JSHRabbits]

I am fairly familiar with rabbit rearing and processing but something popped in my mind that I can't find the answer to. I know how to skin a rabbit, that's easy. What I want to know is, is there an easy way to pluck a rabbit so that the skin remains? Is there an established procedure for doing so? Can someone explain how to do this or Is there a machine one can use to do this? The reason I ask is that I want to grill the rabbit but it is better with the skin on.

 

[LPH_NY]

I've actually never heard of anyone keeping the skin on the rabbit... Have you eaten a rabbit with the skin on? I'm wondering if a 30-60 second scald like that used for chickens would work for helping the follicles open. Their skin is so thin, though, it might tear during the "plucking" process, especially a younger rabbit.

 

[alforddm]

How to they do guinea pigs?

 

[Nyctra]

I tried scalding and plucking a rabbit once... :? it was a sloppy hairy mess, and I couldn't get all the hairs off 'cause many were still pretty deep in the skin as it was still growing a new coat.

 

[LPH_NY]

Guinea pigs are grilled or fried with the fur still on the skin. Apparently, most of it is seared off... and I guess what's left isn't annoying enough to bother the person enjoying fried or grilled guinea pig. Have never tried it. Maybe just sauce it up really good and have a toothpick handy!

 

[lereg15]

Always a razor, the rest of the hair should burn off in the cooking process.

 

[Zass]

I've seen images with piles of scalded cuy in peru, and have read instructions on scalding them online. From what I've heard (from taxidermists) that skinning a GP is NOTHING like skinning a rabbit. Skinning a gp is supposed to be rather tricky due to how tightly connected it's hide is?
I think scalding a rabbit like this may not work, since they are such different animals.


From here:
http://www.eattheweeds.com/guinea-pigs-cavy-cuy/

The whole guinea pig is dipped in near boiling water for 20 seconds. This makes the hair easy to remove. The hair is then removed. The animal is slit from anus to neck without cutting visera to avoid cutting the gall bladder. The visera is removed and the cavity rinsed (also the site of where much stuffing is stuffed or to hold sauce.) Head and feet are removed for aesthetic reasons but there is no consumption reason to remove said. Head, heart, lungs, liver and skin are also edible.

 

[JSHRabbits]

Yes I have eaten rabbit with the skin on a very long time ago. Don't really remember much. I'm from Jamaica and here we have a form of grilling we call "jerk". There is Jerk Chicken, Jerked Pork and Jerked rabbit is slowly taking off. I haven't personally jerked any rabbit but I have had it before. It taste pretty good. But I was told that it's nicer when the skin is on it because it helps to hold the meat together and holds the moisture in better. If I am to supply such a market with meat I would want to make it as easy as possible to facilitate this without it being so time consuming. Hence my question.

 

[Zass]

Yes I have eaten rabbit with the skin on a very long time ago. Don't really remember much. I'm from Jamaica and here we have a form of grilling we call "jerk". There is Jerk Chicken, Jerked Pork and Jerked rabbit is slowly taking off. I haven't personally jerked any rabbit but I have had it before. It taste pretty good. But I was told that it's nicer when the skin is on it because it helps to hold the meat together and holds the moisture in better. If I am to supply such a market with meat I would want to make it as easy as possible to facilitate this without it being so time consuming. Hence my question.

I would be happy to attempt to scald for hair removal, and post my results.

Do you know of a recipe I can try?

 

[JSHRabbits]

I would be happy to attempt to scald for hair removal, and post my results.

Do you know of a recipe I can try?

No actually, I've never cooked the meat. I eat it often but I don't usually do the cooking. Let me know how it works out. i'd be happy to hear the result.

 

[Zass]

No actually, I've never cooked the meat. I eat it often but I don't usually do the cooking. Let me know how it works out. i'd be happy to hear the result.

Alright, I'll find a recipe online.
Do you have an age you would prefer me to try at?
I have some fryers that are getting pretty close to 8 weeks.

 

[JSHRabbits]

8 weeks is kinda young do you think the skin can hold up to that heat? Or maybe it jus depends on how long you submerge the rabbit? You can try it jus the same though because I am more interested in the result. By the way what kind of weight are you getting for that age?

 

[katiebear]

I looked on line yesterday for jerk rabbit recipes, because I love jerk seasoning, the only ones I found used skinned rabbit....anxiously awaiting your results.. :dinner:

 

[Zass]

8 weeks is kinda young do you think the skin can hold up to that heat? Or maybe it jus depends on how long you submerge the rabbit? You can try it jus the same though because I am more interested in the result. By the way what kind of weight are you getting for that age?

Those ones would be small, only in the 4 lb range I think.. I need to go weigh them soon. If any are 4.5 lbs. it will be large enough for me.
I was thinking the hair would come off very easily and they would be tender at that age, but yeah, the skin would be really thin.

Later they would have thicker skin, especially the bucklings, but the meat would be tougher...

__________ Sat May 23, 2015 4:33 pm __________

I thought maybe I'd try 8, 10, and 12 weeks, that way I can compare tenderness, and skin thickness.

These ones are only 4 lbs, but my family was anxious to try it, so here goes attempt one.

My initial thoughts:
Definitely more time consuming and messy than simply peeling the hide off, and you lose the pelt in the process. It's not a big loss with rabbits this small however, since it's too thin to tan.

The timing for the scald was tricky to get right.

Left in too long and the skin came off with the fur, too short and the hair didn't loosen.
Here is a bit of actual skin I was able to keep on. Since the rabbit was blue, the skin has a bit of a tint. I'm sure a white rabbit would have a cleaner appearance.


Interestingly, even with the skin leaving with the pelt...some membrane that usually comes off attached to the pelt stayed on the rabbit.

You can see where I ripped it on the top one. I usually remove those fat deposits, but I'm going to skewer that membrane back together and leave that fat on this time, to see if it self bastes a bit..

Here they are being prepped for grilling.
I don't know if I succeeded well enough to see any kind of difference in juiciness, but the marinade smells wonderful..


I'll get back to everyone after dinner. :dinner:

 

[LPH_NY]

How long did it take to get the fur off one of those? I'm eager to find out how they taste!

 

[3mina]

I think I need to learn to bookmark posts because I've had a couple of friends ask if slipping the fur and keeping the skin on is possible. I'm very interested in the results of this experiment I think

 

[II Arrows]

save me a plate I'm coming over for dinner!

 

[Zass]

LPHNY, your lynx bucking is from the same litter as these guys. They are all a couple ounces over or under 4 lbs at 8 weeks. He's not the largest buck in the litter at 3 lbs 14 oz.

I had those bunnies scalded, plucked(kinda) and gutted as fast as I'd have skinned them traditionally. So, yeah, I'll do that again. Leaving that extra membrane on the carcass did have it's benefits, even though I wasn't able to keep all the skin.

I went with this recipe, more or less:

http://prairibbeancookbook.blogspot.com ... -peas.html

I saw some Jamaican jerk rabbits on youtube cut like this, so I tried it, and... I really wanted to grill over an open fire, since it's nice out.

OK, one thing I do love about Pennsylvania.
Grilling rabbits over an open fire in the backyard?

Totally normal.
Even in city limits. The purple thing in the middle is my daughter, wearing an Espeon hat. She's super cool.


I was a little worried about everything being done so I gave up on the spiffy presentation, jointed it and finished crisping it on the gas grill.

Tenderest and tastiest grilled rabbit I have ever made. I will definitely leave the fat on again next time too. I had no idea rabbit could be this juicy.

The family unanimously declared this recipe absolutely delicious. They are eagerly awaiting the 10 week old trial. The little 8 week old fryers are almost too tender, and I think more heat would have worked better at this age. Longer and slower as they get older, of course.

And this is just the view of the rabbitry from the fire-pit terrace. Because it's pretty here in spring, so I'm taking advantage of the attention to show off a little for my RT friends.

 

[JSHRabbits]

LPHNY, your lynx bucking is from the same litter as these guys. They are all a couple ounces over or under 4 lbs at 8 weeks. He's not the largest buck in the litter at 3 lbs 14 oz.

I had those bunnies scalded, plucked(kinda) and gutted as fast as I'd have skinned them traditionally. So, yeah, I'll do that again. Leaving that extra membrane on the carcass did have it's benefits, even though I wasn't able to keep all the skin.


Tenderest and tastiest grilled rabbit I have ever made. I will definitely leave the fat on again next time too. I had no idea rabbit could be this juicy.

The family unanimously declared this recipe absolutely delicious. They are eagerly awaiting the 10 week old trial. The little 8 week old fryers are almost too tender, and I think more heat would have worked better at this age. Longer and slower as they get older, of course.

Thank you for trying this! It looks great!! This is pretty interesting. So are you saying that plucking them and skinning them took you basically the same amount of time? How long did it take? How long did you scald the rabbit for and what was the water temperature? I assume you have grilled rabbit without the skin before so whats the comparison with the skin on?

 

[Zass]

Thank you for trying this! It looks great!! This is pretty interesting. So are you saying that plucking them and skinning them took you basically the same amount of time? How long did it take?

:? I didn't have a timer on me. I'll have to do so next time.

How long did you scald the rabbit for and what was the water temperature?

We tried scalding in near boiling water for 30 seconds, but that didn't really allow the hair to release. (or maybe it was too long???)
We tried for 60 seconds and we lost the skin with the hair. (but retained a layer of flesh and membrane that would have normally been removed along with the skin.) making the effort semi-successful.

When we try again in two weeks I'll get more exact times and temps. This initial try was mostly just to see if it could be done. :lol:

So far as comparison...I'm used to grilled rabbit being a bit dry.
I think, the extra layers of flesh and fat left on definitely contributed to it being juicy.

My husband said it isn't like eating rabbit at all. The crispy fat actually tasted more like pork fat after it was marinated and slow cooked over a campfire...

The skin itself was kinda rubbery, and no one was really interested in eating that part (except the dogs) Perhaps I didn't crisp it enough?

Not sure how useful that dressing method would be on a commercial level, but I'm pretty happy to be able to add it to my repertoire.